Kreuzberg Kunsthaus

The New York Times looks at the home of Berlin frame maker and restaurant owner Stephan Landwehr (the story has a lovely slideshow that’s worth seeing):

Mr. Landwehr planted some flowers and a maple tree in the courtyard, and in front of what would be the natural entranceway he installed a stone sculpture by Mandla Reuter, a South African conceptual artist who is inspired by the alteration of space. “His work blocks entrances so that you have to use another more uncomfortable way,” Mr. Landwehr said. His main entrance is now the side door into the kitchen.

Over the years, Mr. Landwehr has amassed an impressive collection of contemporary art, a selection of which covers the walls of his two-story apartment. Some of the pieces he traded for framing work, others he received as gifts from his circle of artist friends (Damien Hirst gave him a drawing for his birthday) and the rest he has purchased from galleries.

The sale of one of his paintings — a work by the Scottish painter Peter Doig — financed a dream of opening a restaurant. Now four years old, Mr. Landwehr’s restaurant, the Grill Royal, is a meeting place for Berlin’s art scene. But compared with the sleek design of his restaurant, Mr. Landwehr’s home is quirky and bohemian.

An almost three-foot-tall figure of a fox installed on a pedestal, a rare sculpture by the German painter Daniel Richter, appears to welcome guests into the airy white living room, one half of the mostly open, L-shaped ground floor. Behind the fox on the back wall hangs four large artworks: a childlike painting of flowers by the Israeli artist Tal R, a piece comprised of dozens of cassettes in a wooden case by the German installation artist Gregor Hildebrandt, an abstract portrait of Mr. Landwehr by the German painter and sculptor Thomas Scheibitz, and a colorful oil painting by Mr. Richter.